Message from the IPRA President: Sociality February 2022

(Comments)

2 years, 2 months ago

My heart is filled with excitement for the athletes' achievements in the Beijing Olympics. Meanwhile, the Super Bowl was successfully held recently in the US. I am happy to see that the world is slowly recovering from the corona virus pandemic.

Coming soon – International Women's Day

My home country Japan has in recent years seen more and more events related to International Women's Day, celebrated each year on 8 March. It is good to see that companies and other types of organization are enhancing their systems and benefits to promote women's activities and then to publicize these activities. Not only around women's issues, but we are also seeing in Japan increased activity in other types of sociality.

Sociality and communication

Sociality is a term derived from animal populations, such as bees, where it describes the degree to which individuals tend to associate in social groups and form cooperative societies. In human terms it has become to mean living together in an organized way as a society, and thus the activity of meeting and spending time with other people. Thus, for communicators, sociality is a way to increase the value of information. Put simply, sociality has the potential to make products and organizations more valuable. A paradigm shift is at work in the world today, with many companies and other types of organization beginning to recognize that what we should care about most is one over-ridding social issue: the future of our planet. I believe that it is our responsibility as public relations professionals to use the power of communication to accelerate this recognition.

Join the IPRA Climate Chapter

In this context, as I mentioned last month, we launched our own manifestation of sociality, the IPRA Climate Change Chapter. The Chapter’s first meeting decided on a set of activities including the collation of best-practice communication materials, a new GWA Climate Change category, Thought Leadership essays to showcase Climate Change best practice, and a Thought Leadership webinar in September. If you want to join the Chapter to help develop this thinking contact the Secretariat now.

IPRA starts accepting entries for the GWA on 22 February

Another form of sociality is the IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence in PR (the GWA). In 2022 we are expecting the largest number of entries ever and I am looking forward to seeing outstanding works and projects from all over the globe. The GWA is your chance to tell the world what you do and how well you do it. You can enter the GWA competition here where you will also find the rules and all the dates you need. Good luck to everyone.

Etsuko Tsugihara

IPRA President 2022

• ← Invitation to an IPRA webinar on the history of PR: 24 March
• United behind the International Declaration for a healthier world, global communication groups seek a new wave of solidarity →